^^^-"W immik f
Mrl:i?rn p('()j)le I'll u:< tlioyai ^' iiu uh
■ Tm' til* oriyir! of -l.i v{-r^-. t' -n: v, ■> •
ilulio.:
^el rid oT ii , m .in\
ik'j'stiuifl and appr;
* or PtMiglas rc-
M ' . .V- iUMU*' tor the white
■ M '.'i ;: ■'^■iiTors. Why. in point
'I Hi- r ' I bH>. But m liiis roiiuirk
(»{■ I h" .» iIht^; i' >i <iLriii;i('an<'f', wliirh i think
i.-^ til.' key {n LT'-'ut inis{;tk*; m!" there is any
Ntirh inisi;jLk»'i svhii^h h;t- in^de in thi.-i Ni;-
! br;i.-k;i sim-. 1 1 .-I'.nv. ^ tluil the ^nd•^<: ha<
n». t/ry vivi'l inii)ir>,^ inn th,?! tiic ne^no i> («. bn-
inuii : arul ('<>'j>»'tiMei!ily h;t^ nn ihut ihrro
•■;ni any murii! i.tii in k',L:,i.-lat 111^4
hiin. In liis vi»'w. th( qnosl!(»;i of ^^h'•lhl!r a
ii<*\^ f'oinilry -hall Ix* .-luxe 'tr {'rre, i,, a matter of
a> iiitei j:i^ii!]errne'c, i\< il i ^ whether his lu iLrhbnr
nhiil! [uanl his lurni wiih toluo'co, or Hleu k it
I with liorued catth'. Nie.v, whether this viovv is
I ri.irht. or \vron,L'\ ii U vei'\ eertaiu that the ereut
nuju^.s ct" nin nkind lako •:. lotuily ili{}';rt*nt vie,w.—
They consith.-r .-hi' -^ly a ^rent nmrai wrniiLr ; and
llieir ^ee!in;,^^ ;i^ain.st it. is not ovanoiernl, but
j eternak it lies at tlio vt-ry tuufKiation (tf ttlieir
i sense of jn.slic ' ; and il cannot be trilled with. -
lit is a e-i't>iLi and durui.jle elcniu'nt uf [)0i>nlar
jaeiinn, aiai, 1 think, no slalesiaaa can cutely diif-
i rcij'ard it.
'1 hc'ix aro wl^l
' iio iiiiVrior
ay. Judge,
• :.. J .■ ;.' . ... . . uiineiise ap-
plause, i
A Voice — Three cheers for Lincoln."- —
[The eheei'S were ^riveE with a heurtv good
will.]
Mr Li neoln — T slu.uld say at least that is a
seh-evidcnt truth.
X'»\v, it i!a]M'e]:s lint tsemeet to2:ether once
eveiy y-'ar, nbuut the llh vi July,
for .'(.lue vv:i^-i,]\ or other. Thoe -Jth ol" July
aatlieri' I'j^. i -iiirpo^e, have their u,-es. If
you v.:l{ urlulye nr^ 1 will state what i sup-
I'f'-'o to he :'(,nie of Ihenu
*t — -Mirty luilli.
j own ,H..i iiihnbit about ;
I whole earth. We v\m i i
.Ulviy
! we
^ !»ver
' 'iit i ty-t\vo
that we \verc then a ve-
pcjint of liiiniber.-^, va.-tly
;n'oii(>w, with a vastly les.-^
■wit!i Vi^M^y ^ / f oveiT
\vo
ivau-
H<1 WO iix
.• I)ack, as :
• Ion
^'^^^^^ ^ ti.y _ ..a- tlu" pi'ineipK' : ,
wej-e coiitciidiiii^ l\;r ; aiei wo on^ Ut^oumI that
V w-hat tlioy thn\ i\\<] it lias iullwwea that
' : • / that v;e now eiijo3'
" ''1 this annual cole-
■ ) • ■ • .r.od
' ''^'l Ave go iVoiu these
^ with ourselves ; we
•ia'd the one to the other, and
■iMel t'i tlie conntry we inhabit. |
■ '• ■■' . • • • * men in the age,
;'n'i uhieh we live for
<■( '-brati'ins. j.iii after we have done
tliis we iiave not yet reaehed the wliole.
' ' ^ i ^^ ith it. —
•oded In-
wliu are ]iut ''.
: they are men v.
oiatu Irish, ivi-eneii and
thac iiavo eonie from
•• • ;•. e.- "V whose aoeesturs have
' iiU'l settlett ]u>re, linding them-
ar c<;^ualis in all things, if they look
back through this history to tnice their con-
iii^ctioiJ^ T/ith those days by blood, they find
the^^ have none, they cannot carry tlienisolves
back into that gloriou-j epoch and iiiukc tliem-
sclves feel that they are part of iis, but
^vhen thoy look through that ohJ Declaration
of Independence tlicy find tliat those old men
¥ny tliat 'MVe hold lhe>se truths to bo self-
evident tliat all men are created eq\ial," and
I then they feel that moral sentiment taught "in
that day eviih'uces tlieir relation to those men,
that it is the father of all moral principle
in tliem, and that they have a right to claim
it as though they were blood of blood,
and llesh of the flesh of the man who wrote
that Declaration — [loud and long ap[)lauye]
and so tiiey are. That is the electric cord
in that Declarati(>n lird^s the hearts of patri-
otic and liberty-loving men together, that will
link those patriotic Iiearts as long, as the
love of freedom exists in the minds of men
throughout the world. [Applaune.]
Now, sirs, for the purpose of squaring
things with this idea of ' don't care if slave-
ry is voted up or voted down," for sustaining
the Dred Scott decision, [A voice — **nit him
again,"] for iiolding that the Declaration of
Independence did not mean anything at all ;
we have Judge Douglas giving his exposition
j of what the Declnration of Independence
means, and we have liim saying it means sim-
}dy that the })Co})lo of America were equal to
the people of J^Ingland. According to his con-
struction, you Germans are not connected
with it. y<fw I ask y(tu in all soberness, if
all these things, if indulged in, if ratified, if
confirmed and indorsed, if taught to our chil-
dren and repeated, to tliem, do not tend to rub
out the sonliment of lil^erty in the counti^%
j and to transform this government into a gov
j crnment of some other form ? What arc tliese
■ ' ' ' ' ^ ■ uuidc, that the iiif'orior
mI with ;!s much rdlow-
= liable of eTiJo3'iDir: that as
ni' for thcin as ilivAv cuiiditi-
Thov are the aiyinnpiits that
i liindo lor (nishiTiii^ t lie people in
■ wui-M. Ynii will fuid tfiat all
5-10 .11 ^..u.^ieiit-: in favor of kingcraft were of
I'n.s cla-s : tlun- always "^'e^^trode the necks of
r-enple, nor that i' 1 to do it, hut
>>i'vtin>o the people V. ■ olf Iw being
'H'Ht i>l!ie..-,. .'.4 and this ar-
: . • is the same old serpent
^'><'rk and 1 eal, yc-u toil and I
5:10 Iruits of it.
•iU lever way yon will- -wlielh-T it
e-Kie iV.;ni the mouth of a king, a-^ ex'Mi.-e tnr
en:4aving the peo|>le of his country c-r from
;!ien\f)uth *)f men one race as ft ]*eas<-n ibr
"n>laving the uum of another race, it is all
1 !.e sMirie old snqM^nt, and I Isold if ihatcnurse
of ni'gimnmtation ^Thieh is made for the pnr-
p'-f of c^>nvincing the p!d)Iic mind that we
.-honldnot care al^out this should he granted,
it does nut stop with the negro. Y should
ke to know if taking this old Declaration of
^dependence, which dechu-es that all men
are e*|nal upon principle nnd no making ex-
<'fpt;(>n to it, where will it stop? ]f fjiie man
says it does not mean a negro, why m;iy not
another say it does not mean some other man ?
If fh.it declaration is not truth let us get the
-:aiu!e h --^k in which we find it and tear it out!
Who i> » hold as to do it ? If it is not true
let us bear it out ! [Cries of no, no,'"] ,
Let us stick to it then. [Cheers.] Let tis i
stand frmly by it then. [ Vpplause.] i
v.! :, ', n!i'l to the (•xt''nt tluit !i i.eccs^jly l
;!■ ) 1 iiooi) a ]iinn lie must submit to it. —
1 liiitik tliat v.'.is thc^ eotMlition in wliich wo
Touiid our-elve- ^^h('n we estaMi- hf'<l the gov-
ei'iniMit. We levl sin ves auV'U'j us, we could
not jct our c'oi; ^{Itiit ion unlc \-, o permitted
'•(•^ '-I'M in -l;>\''ry, we <• nild not so-
I Wi^ did seeuri.' if we graspeil \
. ;md ]in\in;r b\ i^c r^^ity suhiuitted \
to ll.ut much, it <]()(>- not de--tro\ the prinei- I
]»](' that is the eharter (>l' (tur libercies. Let!
tli.-.t charter stand as our .standard. :
My iricnd ]i;is said to me that I hm a poor
hand to (|Uote ;*^eviptme. 1 will try it fi^riin,
however. It is ^aid in one of the admonitions
of the r<ord, '-A- youi* Fatlier in Heaven
is perfect, bo ye alsi perfect'' The Saviour,
J supp<»se, <lid not expect that any human :
creature couM bo perfect as tlie Father in
Heaven: but He said, *' your Fatlier in
Heaven is perfect, be you pei fect."' He set
that up as a standard, and he wbf> did most
towaid-> reaching; that standard, nftrsiued the
liiirhest degree of mosal perfection. 8o 1
s/iy in relation to the jn-inciple timt all ni(»n
are created equal. Let )t l)e as nearly reach-
ed as we can. If \vc cannot give freedom to
every creature, lotus do nothing that will im-
pose slavei-y upon any other creature. [Ap-
plause.] Let us thou turn this government
back into the channel in which the framers
of the Oonstitutiou originally phiced it. Let
us stan<l firmly by each other. If we do not
do so we are turning in the contrary direction,
which our frien<l Judge Douglas proposes *
— not intentionally — as worknig in the traces
tending to make this a universal slave nation.
[A voice — *'that is so."] He is one that
runs in that direction, and as such I resist
him.
,rnl rii.
''t lici- i r, ji II'! ? iicro
li'M I ' , , . . . !t!f"rif>j- posi-.
t'i .'.M < s , . ' .
>!y fricKth, I Cf.-.ili] not without launching
■ ' lao iiew topic, ivliich wovild detain
J c<jntinvic to-rii<xht. [Cries of ^'go
oil, " ) 1 thank you for this most extensive
Hutlicnce -".vhich yuu have furnished mc to-
ni,i::ht. 1 h^.are vuii, hoping that the lamp of
liberty will burn in your bosoms until there
shall no longer be a doubt that all men are
created free and equal.
Mr. Lincoln retired amid a perfect torrent
of applauise and cheers.
.lU! race jp '.>!; lull I belcrp, n f.
-r j.'.-sitio:}. I I'.uvft r.'^Vv . r ; :i;
!"' c-jhtrury, but L I";; • t.../. -
. Vns, ViLVi) : ' 'i I^-
..lyjho nor.(r() tat e-':t:- \\ •>
. -j.-i v\p\\hi euuaac rated in the DjcLtrut:c:, f.
i :'''"aco, th} ."igiit iib:r!:r aiii ti;-^
M. ! . (.1' bapffii ^Lcud cheers. J i 1 old
i' Lt i V is a<i riiuc'.i crnihid to tbe:":o Wu'te
uiVD. I cI„';:Tl' wivii JiK\i; j Doiy'.uj !\e is net my
i-i r.vojv rr'f L-^'c:53 ■ c:-ri :'.:ply not in col^r,
e<li(i(l a/t'l ih^ fq>ujf of Ja Jij." D'x <n,(l
tk^eQual of ei'<.ry Uciit'yinLin, [ Uixut . t \
: i.
I- .
■
, , , u ''\y ^s'iiy 1
.1 . . ^ ■ bite '
' !i ' 1 c'.iu not ,
I. or (■ ^ ! ■
■ mI ini^ ^ oiiTrt .
i-r }\\ [■<:'< >
lUi^ iiig Ih'jm I
1 ) . ;,I
. ' iy ssWii white I
|,(. ni-. : ;r, ' ■ '
. 'o 1') Hlk Ibat 1
! 'I'MM' i ;
' 1 ' vAK^n Uie !
wliSfc
' ' \ ^ ' i'lvAU'CV iJll
■ '\ .,,'i.i!i'y. Vnd i
(!.■•, -
• or 1 . '
su ;-)("! ior po-^i ' -
I s.iy
- n i <1(^ no* V' \ ^ UL\'^-
iii.it In-iw
' .(o-ild ])'^ dei\i(Ml
. ■ . ,
^ v > ' r> \Mna-\a for fi
1 '.:\ naiii ber for a wife.
'( . .j M\ ii'-.dcf standing
! t...;i ! call jii-r 1
(^r h< r n!o)H\ \ o.m no ,v'
' 'ill.'.;-, i rr r' • ,^
.! - ■ ! ] (!-> lit;!,
1
/ /
.J.
J. .. J.
J J }
I.
'•%
LINCOM; HIS BOOK
^JV^ EXPLANATOMT NOTE.
ABRAHAM
LINCOLN
HIS BOOK
A FACSIMILE KEPKODUC-
TION OF THE ORIGINAL
WITH AN
EXPLANATORY NOTE
BY
J. McCAN DAVIS
NKW YORK:
DOUBLEDAY, PAGE & COMPANY
1909
Copyriglif, 1901, by
McCllim:, PiiiLLirs & co.
Flrsf, Iinprossion, F«»l)ni:iry, IftOl
Sei'oud Iiuprossi<)n« nian-li, 1901
ABRAHAM LINCOLN— HIS BOOK.
This book— the only one now or ever extant
of its illustrious authorship— owes its exist-
ence to Ihe political campaign of 1858, when
the opposing candidates for United States
Senator from Illinois were Abraham Lincoln
and Stephen A. Douglas. The issue was
slavery- whether, as Mr. Lincoln contended,
it should be restricted to the states in which
it already existed, or, as Judge Douglas advo-
cated, it should be permitted to invade the
new territories if agreeable to the people
thereof.
Mr. Lincoln, at that time, did not advocate
emancipation. He made no demand for the
liberation of the slaves then in bondage. lie
made no plea for negro citizenship. While he
regarded slavery, as he had declared as early
as 1837, as " founded on both injustice and
-2 —
bad policy," and of course hoped for ih
"ultimate extinction,'* he recognized its con-
stitutional status in the states in which it
then had an existence, and, without any pur-
pose to disturb it there, raised hi« voice only
against its further extension.
His position, however, was constantly mis-
stated by his opponents. Judge Douglas made
the charge of "abolitionism," and the accu-
sation was reiterated throughout the stat«,
from the beginning to the end of the cam-
paign, by Democratic orators and newspapers.
It was charged that Lincoln stood for the
equality of the races, politically and socially ;
and it was pointed out, with alarm and in-
dignation, that should his doctrines prevail,
there would be inevitable social and political
chaos. Whites and blacks would intermarry
promiscuously; the impassable line which
had so long separated the two races would be
wholly obliterated; the hated black man
would be invested with political privileges
which hitherto had been counted the whit€
man's exclusive and sacred rights.
-3-
There were few sections of Illinois whert
jprejudice against the negro was stronger than
fn Sangamon county, the home of Mr. Lincoln.
The city of Springfield and the adjacent
country was inhabited largely by natives of
Kentucky. Before coming to Illinois they
had been accustomed to slavery, and, while
many agreed with Mr. Lincoln that the insti-
tution was fundamentally wrong and ought to
be restricted, tlie remotest suggestion of mak-
ing a negro their social and political equal
was abhorrent. It was this prejudice that kept
so many of the Whigs, even after their party
was manifestly doomed to extinction, from
joining the new Republican party. It was
this influence that gave Fillmore his strength
in Illinois in 1856, and, by dividing the anti-
Democratic forces, gave the state's electoral
vote to Buchanan.
, The widespread fear of "negro equality"
was at once recognized by Mr. Lincoln as the
most portentous obstacle to the success of
the new party. It made the Old Line Whigs
—his life-long political associates— hesitant
-4-
wavering, and distrustful. Some of them had
already gone over to the Democracy.
In 1857 there was no longer any doubt that
the Whig party could never survive another
election. It was, in truth, already dead.
Many of the Old Whigs of Sangamon county
were still at sea, not knowing whither to
turn for safe and congenial affiliations. There
were really but two courses open — they must
join the new Republican party, with its ad-
vanced and distrusted doctrines on slavery, or
they must join the pro-slavery Democracy,
which they had been fighting from time im-
memorial.
It was this dilemma which brought to-
gether, one day in that year, a few Sangamon
county men who long had been prominent in
the Whig party councils. The assemblage, in
a retrospective view, was notable and historic,
though at the time it was but a quiet confer-
ence of friends, for whose proceedings we are
indebted wholly to a trustworthy tradition.
There were present, among others. Judge
Stephen T. Logan and Major John T. Stuart,
— 5 —
both of whom had been Lincoln's law part-
ners; Colonel John Williams, Major Elijah
lies, and Captain James N. Brown. There was
a full and frank discussion of the difficult
problem. Every one present expressed his
views and intentions. Some had joined the
Republicans in the previous year; others
were now ready to do so, while several, like
Major Stuart, although not yet prepared to go
with the Democracy, declared that they never
could be Republicans.
Captain Brown, when called upon to state
his position, said: " My friends, I have been a
Whig all my life. I cannot be a Democrat.
From this time on, I am a Lincoln Re-
publican."
Mr. Lincoln, up to this point, had not been
present; but he stepped into the room just in
time to hear Captain Brown's declaration.
This conference was followed by another
early in 1858. It was a Republican meeting
this time, and of great local importance.
Captain Brown was there, and so was Lincoln.
The matter under consideration was the per-
_6-
sonnel of the local ticket for the campaign
then about to open. The master spirit of the
occasion was Mr. Lincoln. He talked at length
and emphasized the importance of . a policy
which would set at rest the minds of the Old
Whigs who still remained practically without
a party— showing them that the new party
was not the exponent of "abolitionism," as
had been alleged against it, but that it stood
only for the conseryative doctrine of the re-
striction of slavery to existing limitations.
Captain Brown, like Lincoln, was a native of
Kentucky, coming of a distinguished family
of that state (his father. Colonel William
Brown, a veteran of the war of 1812, having
served in Congress with Henry Clay, defeat-
ing Colonel Richard M. Johnson, who was sub-
sequently United States Senator and Vice-
President). He had been a life-long Whig,
and, like many of his party associates, had
kept out of the Republican party in 1856,
voting for Fillmore. He had long been a per-
sonal friend of Lincoln, and was, moreover, a
man of blameless reputation.
_7-
Mr. Lincoln, at this meeting, urg^ed the
nomination of Captain Brown as one of the
party's candidates for the legislature. Brown
did not want the nomination, and said so; he
had served four terms in the House (including
one term with Lincoln, back in 1840 and '41),
and was now averse to longer public service.
But Lincoln was insistent, and made an argu-
ment which disclosed in him the astute poli-
tician that all recognized him to be.
"You must run," he said to Brown. "We
cannot, must not, nominate an Eastern man ;
he would be beaten. We must have the votes
of the Old Line Whigs. You have been a
Whig; you are a Kentuckian; you have been
a slave-holder. You will get the support of
the large conservative element — the Old Line
Whigs and the men of Southern birth and
sympathies who, while willing to let slavery
remain where it is, are with us against
its further extension, but who would be
afraid to trust an Eastern man," and he
called off the names of a half-hundred Old
Line Whigs of local prominence who would
vote for such a man as Brown, but would op»
pose a candidate of Eastern birth or of doubt-
ful antecedents.
Captain Brown, persuaded to an accept-
ance by Lincoln's unanswerable logic, was
later nominated for the lower branch of
the General Assembly, his associate on the
ticket being John Cook, son of a Kentuckian,
and afterwards a Union General in the Civil
War.
Popular feeling was intensified as the cam-
paign progressed. The old prejudice against
the negro, inbred in the men of Southern
nativity — the heritage of many generations
of perverted opinion — was found deep-rooted
and bitter. Entering upon his canvass. Captain
Brown was confronted everywhere with the
charge that Lincoln stood for " negro equal-
ity," social and political.
" Why, Brown!" his old friends would say,
in astonishment, " How can you, a Ken-
tuckian, yourself once a slaveholder, stand
for a Rlack Abolitionist— a man who says the
negro is your equal and mine f
-9-
Porsonally, of eoiirse, Captain Brown un-
derstood Lincoln's position perfectly; but
there were many whom he found it impos-
sible to convince that Lincoln held no such
views as were ascribed to him.
He felt the necessity for something authori-
tative—a statement from Mr. Lincoln himself,
setting forth his views in lucid and unmis-
takable language. Late in the campaign he
asked Mr. Lincoln for such a statement. Mr.
Lincoln went over his published speeches for
several previous years, including those in his
debate with Douglas just then concluded, and
clipped out whatever he had said on the sub-
ject of "negro equality." These extracts he
pasted into a small pocket memorandum book,
making explanatory notes wherever needed.
He supplemented this printed matter with a
letter addressed to Captain Brown, filling
eight pages of the little book. This letter,
containiw)g the essence of all he had previously
said, was the most recent and authoritative
statement of his views which he could pos-
sibly have made, and it was precisely the
- 10 —
thin^ which his friend and supporter had felt
the need of throug:hout his canvass.
The close of the campaign was near, only
about two weeks of it remaining, but the
time was fully utilized by Captain Brown.
He carried the book in his pocket, and when-
ever Lincoln's "negro equality" views were
questioned — and this must have been manj
times every day, in the course of his public
speeches and private conversations— he would
produce the book and read from it " Lincoln's
own words," placed there by Lincoln himself
only a few days before.
But no argument was strong enough to over-
come the prejudice then so widespread and
unreasoning, and both legislative candidates
(one of Southern birth, and the other of
Southern ancestry) failed of election.
The book, of course, had been intended bj
Mr. Lincoln only to meet a temporary require-
ment, and very likely he had no idea that it
would survive the campaign of 1858; but
Captain Brown carefully preserved it and must
have carried it with him in 1860 and in sub-
sequent campaigns, for he filled out the re-
maining leaves with many later newspaper
scraps of his own selection.
Captain Brown died in 1868. The Lincoln
Scrap Book passed to his sons William and
Benjamin, of Grore Park, 111., to whom we
are indebted for the facts pertaining to its
history. In 1900 tlie book was sold by the
Messrs. Brown, to Mr. William H. Lambert
of Philadelphia, who possesses the most
complete and intelligently arranged Lincoln
collection in existence.
It is the unique renown of this book that it
is the only one eyer written or compiled by
Abraham Lincoln. It is reproduced here, as
nearly as possible, precisely as it came from
his pen and his hand.
J. McCAN DAVIS.
"PARAMOUNT ISSUE'
IN 1858.
NOTE.— On the opposite page is the " scare
head" of a double-leaded article which the
"Illinois State Register" kept standing in
its columns for some time previous to the
election of 1858. The "State Register" was
the organ of Senator Douglas at the State
Capital. The article illustrates the preemi-
nence of "negro equality" as an issue in the
campaign of 1858, from the Democratic point
of Yiew. J. McC. D.
PEOPLE OF SANGAMON!
REMEMBER
A VOTE FOR COOK AND BROWN
IS A VOTE FOR
LINCOLN AND NEGRO
EQUALITY!
VOTE FOR
BARRET and SHORT
AND SUSTAIN
DOUGLAS
AND
POPULAR RIGHTS.
